


99.8%

by bonjourmags



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Black Mirror - Freeform, F/M, M/M, Multi, Soulmate AU, hang the dj au, this is cute like just fluff with a bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2019-03-04 22:04:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13373994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bonjourmags/pseuds/bonjourmags
Summary: In a world where everyone finds their soulmate thanks to a dating app called "99.8%", Mike doesn't understand why his doesn't work. He fears that he has none, but what he doesn't know is that he has two soulmates.





	99.8%

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! If you haven't watched black mirror's episode "hang the DJ", I am spoiling it. If you haven't seen it, (go watch it) let me explain the system before you start reading my fic: The 99.8% dating app creates thousands simulations (inside the app) in which you date people for a time - time that is picked by the dating app. At the end of these dates, the app finds your 99.8%, leaving you the chance of seeing one of your old dates before marrying your 99.8%. In the end, if you decide to escape with the person that you picked, the app counts it as 0.01%, and you need to have 998 simulations that escape together to find your actual soulmate. The thing is that you don't live any of these simulations, but it's a copy of yourself who does. Thus, the "inside the app" Mike isn't the same as "outside the app" Mike.

_**Inside the app**_

The first memory he had was meeting her. He couldn't remember anything else but seeing her picture on the round technology that told him who to date, while he entered the restaurant in which he would speak to her for the first time. She had longer hair than what his dating app showed, but it was so slight that Mike thought his eyes were too good at gazing at people. But he couldn't stop watching her, how her round eyes married her brown curls, how thin her face looked when she was lost in her thoughts, how lost she seemed as she was sitting there, waiting for him. 

 

Mike let a sigh come out of his teeth, stressed out. It was his first time in the system - she was the first one with whom he'll share a meal, a hand, a bed, a house. He walked up to her, with a small smile, but it felt fake. He was to stressed to give a genuine smile. 

 

"Hello, pretty," he said, and as soon as he said it he wanted to bit the words back down his throat. She looked at him with weirded out eyes, but she quickly adjusted herself in her seat and her emotion was long gone. "Hello." He handed his hand, so she could shake it, but again she watched him as if it wasn't what he should have done, but this time with a quiet smile. She shook his hand, firmly, and Mike liked that. 

 

"It's your first time in the system, isn't it?" She wondered, playing with a glass in front of her, as soon as he sat down. "Yeah, it is. How can you tell?" He asked, his eyes lost in the shape of her lips and the dangerous smell that revolved around her. "You're stressed. And I don't know why but the system always puts me with new people. You're my fourth and they were all newbies to the system." She answered kindly, before her eyes set on Mike's ones, and the whole world fell, before she recreated it with her kind brown orbs. 

 

Mike liked to think he was a romantic person. Maybe he liked love more than he actually loved, but he would often find pretty metaphors about his lovers, and right now, the app was telling him that this girl, named Jane Hopper, was his date. He found her pretty and, to him, she was a revelation. Maybe he forced himself to fall at first sight, but he didn't care, because his light heart was loving her already, and he had so much more to give than what she thought. It was as if he already knew her, already loved her, already met her a thousands times before. He wouldn't mind meeting her again, and again, and again.

 

"Lets see how long we last." She said as excited as a kid on his birthday, putting her dating device on the table. She waits for Mike to put his own next to hers, so he does, and she quietly brushes his hand with her own. Mike smiles and exhales as she does it, and he can feel her eyes scanning his face. It was as if she was playing a game, a kid's game - she was awfully pretty, her voice was mellifluous, her smell reminded him a dangerous fire, her skin tone made him feel like she was a porcelain doll. She was playing with him probably because he was acting funny around her, but he didn't mind. He didn't know her, even if he felt like he really did, but she seemed nice. She seemed perfect to his eyes.

 

They clicked on their devices together, and it showed the awaited answer. "TWO MONTHS" was written in a white color. "Oh, that's fine. Not so long but at least we get to meet each other." She said, with some struggle in her voice. Mike was disappointed, but at least it wasn't a few hours like it could have been. "Oh by the way, I'm Jane." She added, with an adorable smile, noted Mike. "I know, it was written on the device." He told her, and her face went a bit red. 

 

It was his time to play a bit. 

 

The application decided that she liked french fries, white wine and a salad, while he had some weird food he couldn't even name with a glass of red wine. Mike didn't like what he was served, and Jane could tell, so she took his plate and hers, exchanging them. He thanked her, and his belly did it too. She was nice, he noted as they ate and talked, she was funny and nice.

 

After the restaurant, after a few glasses of wine, enough to feel tipsy but not enough to make mistakes, they went outside to discover their shared house. He approached her and her cold hand slowly with his warm one as they were getting closer to their destination. "You're living in a fairytale, Mike." She said calmly, and the smile on her lips told him that she, in some way, liked it. "I wish I could too." She added but even if her words were charged in meaning, her voice wasn't. "You could teach me, you know, in two months." 

 

"Yeah. I will." And he did. He acted like a prince for her - he felt that he had to protect her, but he knew she was stronger than him in every way. He just liked to hold her in his arms, resting his head on hers, smelling the so dangerous parfume she usually wears. He babied whenever he could, and sometimes she hated it, but it was a part of how Mike was, and she couldn't tell him a word about it. He took the hint, after weeks, and stopped being so romantic or gentle, because he saw that the glittery pink his eyes held towards her eyes were too much, and that not everyone likes sugarcoated love as much as he does. 

 

One night, as the sheets were all over the place from the hotness of the summer, she whispered in his hear, "You know I'm not a gentle princess that you have to save in the castle? You don't have to play the prince, I don't mind if you don't play that role." He turned around, tried to look at her eyes in the dark, kissed her soft lips and answered, his lips still touching hers, "I know. You're actually the evil queen here to cut my balls off." She laughed. He stopped acting in a brotherly way towards her, but that didn't stop him from being immature, or childish in his own way. 

 

She liked him as he was, anyway. 

 

Two months, that wasn't that long. It was so small if you compare it to a life span, but Mike inked Jane's heart - and Jane inked Mike's. It was hard to stop seeing her after their time ended. That was why he never stopped seeing her, they decided to meet at least once a month or two, to tell to the other what happened in their life. She told him about everyone the device put her with, and how they treated her. He told her the same. 

 

Girls went, girls go. He dated so many, but he remembered each face, each smell, each personality. Then something happened. He was twenty two at the time. 

 

He was waiting at his table for his new date to show up. His wine was already served and thank god, because the girl he was waiting for was late. It didn't bother him, or at least not that much.

"Hi. I'm so sorry I'm late." That's weird. Thought Mike. This voice is really low-pitched for a girl. He looked up to see his date.

What he didn't thought of was that the voice was too low because it was a boy.

Mike had no idea of what to do. Every time he met a new girl, his mind forced him into a bliss of love - love at first sight. But he never had anything for a boy, and had no idea if he only could have feelings for one. The boy in front of him wasn't ugly, not at all - he was actually kinda cute and his thin lips were drawn into a genuine smile. His eyes were incredibly soft, or that is until Mike looked more closer. In reality, his eyes were afraid. His eyes were showing that the boy in front of him felt like a prey - caught in something way much bigger than you can explain with words. Mike felt like shit, because he knew that somehow, the other boy knew - he knew that Mike wasn't gay and that this was one of these dates that end up in nothing, that lasts a night but this time there was no way they could do anything.

Mike's loving instincts went up, as the prey in front of him sat down. He wanted to hush him that he would do what he can to like him as much as he could, but that miracles don't happen. That he was straight, and there was very few chances that he would change. The world isn't a fairytale. Or maybe it was.

Mike hushed himself, he needed to stop thinking about it. Maybe he could fake it until he can make it. Anyway, this date would only date a day or two, he hoped. Maybe, if it was that short, he could fake it. "Hi." he said, and his voice cracked. The boy sat down and looked directly at him, and he read directly through him. His smile faded, "Oh. You're not gay, isn't it? You seem surprised to see a boy in front of you." Mike's breath was hold by the boy in front of him, the seer - watching through him as he was a movie you could binge.

"Yeah. I'm- I'm not." Said Mike quickly, hoping that he talked to quickly for another human to hear him. When he looked up, stressed out to see the reaction, he was welcomed by a smile. A smile that seemed too big to Mike's mind ; he had no idea someone could open so much their heart through their mouth. "It's fine, I don't mind at all. I've been paired with girls to whom I asked if we could just act as friends, and you're not the first heterosexual boy I'm paired with. Anyway, I still have some place for friends. I'm Will, by the way."

Mike was reassured. "Thank you. And I know, it was written on the device." He laughed, and Will blushed a bit. He reminded him of Jane ; it wasn't his hair since hers were curled and his was straight, it wasn't his eyes, and surely not his smell - he smelled like spring, he smelled something so light that you couldn't compare with Jane's furious smell. Maybe it was another detail about him that made him think of her, maybe it was this deep impression of knowing him, of meeting him a thousands times before this one occurs. Mike thought he was straight, but the more he looked at this precious soul, his mind asked questions.

He found him handsome and, to him, he was a revolution.

"Yeah, talking about the device," said Will, cutting Mike's fantasy thoughts, "let's check how long we last, can we?" Mike took his dating app in his hands, "Oh wait, can I click on yours and you click on mine?" Asked Will, playfully. He was like a kid, and Mike wondered if childish minds were the only ones he could love. "Sure! Good idea." They did it, and the device answered their questions.

"THREE YEARS"

Mike's breath stopped. He met Will's eyes and he sax the prey, once again. "I'm so sorry." He said, as if it was his fault. It surely wasn't.

Three years was a long time. If you compared it to Mike's other relations, it was the longest one. And of course, it had to fell on someone he couldn't fall for. But after a few days, Mike thought it was going to be alright. More than alright. He really liked Will, he was a flying spirit, with too many stupid ideas that turned out right, he enjoyed their late nights watching movies, snuggling in their sofa. "Oh, by the way, if you're not comfortable with, well, sleeping in the same bed, I can take the couch!" Will offered on their first shared night. "For what, three years?" Asked Mike as a joke, but his new friend answered truly. "If you want me to." Mike laughed. "Oh my god, no, don't! I don't mind as long as your hand doesn't go towards forbidden places." Will furrowed his brows. "Oh no. Not my style."

Mike told about him to Jane. "I have someone... new. It's a boy." She shrugged, looking at him as if it wasn't a revelation. "Well, I had my idea that maybe you were bi, but now I'm sure of it!" What? "What? I'm straight, Ja'. I'm not bi, I'm not attracted to him." He said, then flashes of him went through his mind, him smiling, him laughed, him preparing their meal, him missing a step in the stairs, him looking at a cat in an animal shelter, him dancing in the rain because he 'liked that pina colada song', him scared during horror movies. "I think. I think I'm not attracted to Will." He added, lost.

"Will?" She asked, "Is it Will Byers? There's like a zero chance that you're paired with him, but is it him?" Mike furrowed his brows. "Yeah. It's him." She laughed. "I got him like, a year ago. Remember the soft boy that wasn't into girls that I would have loved if he was straight? That guy." They laughed together, before proceeding to tell funny stories about him.

In a way, that story was about the three of them.

Mike knew he wasn't gay. Or, at least, that was what he thought, but the time spent with Will made him ask questions. He didn't like guys. But maybe, maybe, he liked Will and only Will. His mind clicked right with his own, and maybe that was the fairytale Mike was waiting for, but he wanted to wait, to be sure.

He waited two years and eleven months. They were having one of these "three date night" were Mike, Jane and Will were drinking too much wine, and while the girl was in the bathroom, Mike took his courage in his hands with his intoxicated mind, and put his hand over Will's neck, approaching their faces. It was fast, but so slow, and Will found time to stop him before anything, "Don't play with me." He said and it wasn't a broken voice, not even a broken heart, just a demand. He wanted to say 'I'm not, I won't', but all his mouth said was "Sorry," before he kissed him chastely, smiling against the other boy. He breathed in and he felt like he was inside a fairytale. He stopped it before Jane came back. 

 

The day after, no one said a thing. It was forgotten, as if it was their wet dream. Mike knew that three words could make them both happy, but he couldn't bring himself to say them. They were so close to their ending date, he couldn't give Will an idea that they could be while they had to leave each other after so little. He couldn't do it to himself either, losing Jane was hard enough. He couldn't lose him again. 

 

Mike knew he loved them both way too much, maybe more than the two of them loved him. 

 

Their relation stopped, as every other relation does. He dated more, they all dated more. But they were the big three, and they saw each other once in a month, to tell who they were seeing and the latest gossip. 

 

Mike was twenty seven when his dating app told him the news. "It's the end, Mike. We found your 99.8%, you're meeting them tomorrow. But before, we always ask our customers if they want to see one of your old dates before it's over and you leave the city with your 99.8%, as a goodbye." 

 

Mike bit his lips. "I guess I can't ask for two?" The device answered. "No. Only one."

 

_*******_

_**Outside the app** _

It was Nancy who forced him to get this thing. Apparently, there was this new revolutionary app that could, once you're eighteen, you send them a sample of you DNA, and they find the person with whom you have 99.8% chance of being deep deep in love. He did it because all of his friends did it, but he was doomed. 

 

"No Nance, it doesn't work. I don't know why, it keeps telling me, ERROR 353." He told her, while she was annoying him to know who was his "soulmate". "Dude, no. Show me. I don't understand, you sent your samples like, three months ago? They only took like a week to give me my results." He handed her his phone, and she watched it with surprise. "Let's call em." She said, taking her own phone in her hands and taped a number. He made a sign, a way of telling 'this is my life, let me do this' that she understood because brothers and sisters have these kind of secret ways to talk. "At least put it so I can hear!"

 

The phone ringed two times, before a boy's voice answered. "99.8% company, this is Edward, how can I help you?" He said, and Nancy moved her lips as if she wanted to talk but Mike hushed her, "Hello. I sent my samples three months ago, and my app still doesn't give me any informations. Is it normal?" He wondered, and the voice on the phone laughed. Mike liked it, because this wasn't such a formal discussion. He liked when employees were nice to him. "Oh, no, this is not. We don't take that much time, you know, we take pride in being fast. Your screen must be showing an error number, can you tell me what it is?" 

 

"Yeah, sure. It says error 353. Is it bad?" Mike said, jokingly. "Oh." Was all the other boy said, and suddenly, the joke wasn't a joke anymore. "Is it bad?" He asked again.

 

"It isn't. Well, there's a chance it isn't. I'm going to explain you something that you don't hear a lot because you're a rare case. Well, either you don't have a 'soulmate', well, a 99.8%, or you have more than one." He said, and Nancy looked lost, as much as Mike. 

 

"Oh, okay. Can I know what case it is?" He wondered, while the other boy helped him. "Yes, give me your name and your reference number, that you can find in your info." Nancy searched for him, then he answered. "Mike Wheeler, with two e's, and 000467084." Edward asked him to tell the number another time but slowly before eluding the mystery. "Good news. You do have a 99.8%, you actually have two. This happens, not a lot, it's really rare but it does. I'm going to change you error screen, you'll have two buttons, one blue and one pink. On it, there will be the names Will and Jane, who are your two 'soulmates', you just have to click on one and you'll have the normal app, like everyone else." A boy?

 

 

"Oh, great! And I'll be able to meet the two of them?" He asked with a smile. Silence.

 

"Um, no. Well - we also take pride on the fact that we make you discover your soulmate, your only one soulmate. We can't give you more than one, it would be against our system. I'm sorry, but you're one of these exceptions to whom we don't give a special treatment. Everyone has one, you will have only one too. We can't give you more, because if we start that way, people will ask for their 99.7%, and their 99.6% and that's not our purpose. Sorry sir." Suddenly, he wasn't as funny or nice as before. "Okay. Thanks." Said Mike, not meaning it. "Now turn the device off before turning it on, I think it should be fine. Have a great day!" He answered, then Mike ended the call. 

 

"Who are you going to pick?" Asked Nancy. As an answer, Mike opened his dating app, closed his eyes, and let fate pick for him.

**Author's Note:**

> hiii! i hope you liked it, and if you did please leave a comment/leave kudos! it makes me hella happy. 
> 
> If you want to talk, send prompts, this is my tumblr: guccimikewheeler
> 
> have a nice day!!


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